Server Management

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Server or systems administrators maintain the computer networking system in an office environment by tracking server activity, performing upgrades of software, maintaining computer hardware, addressing questions about technical problems, and improving efficiency by evaluating system network functions. Most work is completed during regular business hours. Occasionally, with new system upgrades or server fixes, work must be completed during odd hours of the night or on weekends. This is when traffic to a Website or office activity will be at its lowest and thus have less of an impact on business.

CERTIFICATION

Many systems administration professionals obtain professional certification that can give them an advantage over other applicants in their job search. The main IT certification exams are through Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA and Redhat. Most of these exams test the applicant’s skills in regards to administration of UNIX or Windows servers, including knowledge of RAID (redundant array of independent disks), systems recovery, command-line tools, and troubleshooting malfunctioning networks.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• The roles and characteristics of a webmaster (5%). This is about understanding what kinds of things webmasters do within organizations. It involves writing job advertisements for web masters.
• Open vs closed systems (10%). This is a wicked problem that encourages you to think deeply about how and why we choose web technologies, their strengths and their weaknesses. There is no right answer.
• Management concerns with large websites (15%). A bit of investigative work to try to identify management issues and solutions for a popular public site of your choosing.
• Security 1 – SSL (5%). Here we ask you to write a simple tutorial on SSL for the benefit of web masters.
• Web server configuration and management (20%). This is where you get to manage a real web server, but the key purpose is to fit the technologies to organizational needs.
• The HTTP protocol (5%). This is a set of exercises employing your own web server developed in task 5 that introduces the main aspects of the HTTP protocol.
• Security 2 – policies (15%). This task requires you to develop an effective security policy for the web server you developed for task 5.
• Wicked problems (10%). Here you are asked to solve some web server management problems that have no single, simple solution, relating your answer to the system and context you created for task 5.
• Final reflections (10%). Summarizing what you have learned on this course.